A letter to my younger self...

A letter to my younger self...

from my older (slightly wiser) self

Dear naïve, irresponsible, teenage Leah,

I write this letter to you hunched over my laptop during the early hours of a sleepy Wednesday morning, in my unkempt uni boudoir. While some might say that not much has changed over the last five years, I beg to differ.

Right now, you’re in your last year at secondary school. You’ve just been kicked out of your English class (again) for tearing down all of the wall displays, and you’re barely scraping a C grade in most of your classes. Things aren’t looking good for you at the moment, and you have no real career aspirations or future desires. You lack focus in and out of the classroom, and you somehow manage to distract every single person around you. You feel unmotivated, unintelligent and downright tired of mainstream education.

Now imagine that five years later you’re just about to enter your third year at university at UWE. Over the summer you worked for a publishing company and, much to their dismay, you added the majority of your co-workers on LinkedIn (yes, you’re that annoying person who adds everyone on every social media straight away).

My point is, although school wasn’t necessarily for you, socialising and being around people evidently is. How about instead of moping around and complaining that your IQ isn’t naturally over 120 (who even cares these days?), you work with what you have got - the gift of the gab. If anyone could talk the back legs off a donkey, it would be you. So, stop fretting about not knowing what you want to be when you grow up, everything will fall into place believe me. Just stay thick skinned and open minded, you never know where one adventure could take you...

Bad habits

 

So first up, STOP BITING YOUR NAILS! This is probably up there with one of your worst habits, and I know for a fact you’ll regret this later in life. Leah, seriously, you will be forced to wear false acrylic nails for the entirety of your adolescence, and my best guess is that this will continue later into adulthood. Now there is no problem getting your nails done for a special occasion such as your birthday, however you don’t need infills every two weeks - they are so bloody expensive and more often than not you will use your food budget for the week on a fresh set of nails.

Don’t grow up too soon

Now this leads me onto my next point of acting responsibly. There will come a time when you need to grow up and actually be an adult, but now just isn’t the time. Honestly, this may come as a surprise to you, but I really want you to enjoy yourself. Get stuck in and take up a new hobby - you never know what you might fall in love with. Oh, and please make the most of being unemployed for as long as you can. Working can be a pain in the arse sometimes, so don’t wish your life away - enjoy every single moment that you have on this wonderful planet.

Don't take things for granted

 

I want you try something new, OK? Don’t look so worried, it doesn’t involve physical exercise. I want you to practice mindfulness and gratitude every day. It’s awfully easy to get caught up in little things that don’t matter and not truly appreciate what you have in front of you. It’s crazy writing this right now and imagining my life before meditation and mindfulness; I’ve only been attending classes for a year, but it feels like so much longer. Please take up classes as soon as you can, as you will find that mindfulness will calm you down when you need it most.

Fuck boys

Now let’s move onto boys…

Boys, boys, boys, no matter what age they are I guarantee the majority of them will fuck you over - but let’s not get into that. Life is not like a Disney movie (if only). You will meet boys at uni who are only after one thing, be wary of them and don’t let your guard down too soon. You will also meet boys at uni who want more than a friendship, but you aren’t interested in them; they’re most probably the nicest boys ever but you don’t rate them whatsoever (shock). This is OK too - you don’t have to like everybody that shows an interest in you.

Friendships aren’t always forever

 

Not everyone who is in your life right now will remain in your life forever. You will outgrow some people and some people will outgrow you, that’s just the way it goes. It may be particularly hard for you to know that you will stay in contact with less than five people from school, but seek solace in the fact that two of them will be your best mates and you will stay friends with them throughout college. All three of you will even move to Bristol to go to different universities, and you will regularly meet up for a coffee and a rave.

Here are three useful tips that I think will equip you on your way to adulthood…

1. Learn to cook: It will save much embarrassment when your housemates realise you can barely open a tin of beans unassisted.

2: Stop stressing: As I mentioned earlier, you’re young with little responsibilities yet, so please make the most of your adolescence and don’t waste your time worrying about things you can’t control.

3: Everything happens for a reason: You become a firm believer of this later in life. Please adopt this philosophy in your younger years as it will enable you to learn and grow as an individual. Grasp every opportunity that gets thrown at you and don’t look back.

 

Leah, please revel in the fact that the best is yet to come. Even as you are writing this, you’re completely unaware of what’s in store for you and that is extremely exciting. So sit down, chill, and see what life has in store for you.

Love from your 21-year-old (slightly) wiser self x